Dojo Days
by ScottyBgood
Summary: Trina and jade are shocked to discover they have something in common outside of annoying Tori. A series of short chapters of how they coexist in order to help out the place that means more to either of them than they are willing to admit. May contain friendship and possibly hints of a Jori romance. (No promises.) I own nothing, etc.
1. Chapter 1

Hello and welcome to my new, slightly relaxed fiction. This is just for fun, and will be updated as I feel like it, so don't expect it too often. Enjoy.

Oh yea, I don't own anything but my memories and my fantasies.

:}

Trina walked into the Dojo just a little more curious than normal. She didn't usually go to class today. She'd been active both taking lessons and helping new students learn the basics. Trina really liked helping the new people, since it made her the center of attention and got her a lot of respect. Trina liked being respected. She was only a brown belt, and only recently at that, but that meant she was getting closer to her goal. There was a complicates series of belts representing levels and sublevles and Trina had worked for years to get where she was as a first degree brown belt. Still, in only another one to two years she could get her black belt. A couple of years later, with the second degree belt, she could start teaching MMA to others.

The style mixed a lot of other styles, including striking techniques as well as grappling and throws. Trina liked to focus on the striking. Still, it was designed mixing two styles of Kempo, Jujitsu, Wrestling, and a little Muay Thai to make an all around respectable style that was equally effective for self defense and competition. Trina loved it the most because none of Tori's little crowed did it, so they couldn't tell her how bad she was. While her sister practiced things like hambone, Trina had found she could excel in Martial arts.

Of course, eight years Is a long time to train, but unless you're a total fanatic, that's how long the average brown belt takes to get to her rank. Trina didn't see it as wasted time. Trina had heard direct training for high potential fighters could get belted faster, but it also meant fighting in one of those steel rings, and that wasn't her style. 'I may look adorable in anything, but a body cast still doesn't go with my complexion.'

Trina liked the Dojo for other reasons. The trainers were all men, and a lot of the guys who came in were good looking. All of them wanted to impress the pretty girl. If only Trina didn't follow the rule of not dating from within the Dojo. Still, she was admired, and that helped her every time something happened to bruise her ego.

Today was special. Mike, the head trainer, had called her in. He was her favorite, ever since Adam had moved away. The other instructors Trina knew about were Kevin, Stan, and Richie. The school had a policy of referring to their instructors by either Teacher, instructor, or in informal settings, by their first names.

Of the instructors, mike used to compete professionally and had the belts to prove it. Stan also competed professionally, while both Stan and Richie worked as trainers for professional fighters. And of course, Adam had been the sparing trainer to two world class fighters. 'Some day I've got to find out why they called him batman?' Trina thought.

The school had three locations, two for profit and one at a youth center that helped inner city kids get out of the gang life. Stan taught at the community center because the kids respected him for competing. MMA was popular with kids in the gangs, as well as those trying to avoid or get out of the gangs.

Mike was waiting for her, ushering her towards his office. "Trina, how are you today?" He asked.

"I'm good. I was wondering, could I help with the youth classes again? I like working with the kids. They just worship me." Trina said, a smile dominating her face.

"I never tell you enough how much I appreciate your help. Some day You'll be a great instructor. I can't tell you enough how much that means to me." Mike was buttering her up. Trina knew when he was doing it. He wanted something.

"Okay Mike, Whats up." Mike started to feign hurt at the blatant lack of respect. "You want something, so don't give me that."

"Okay, here's the thing. Stan is training for his next bog fight, and we need someone to cover the community center classes for the next couple of months. I know you're not a black belt, but the only person I have who fits the bill is new to hers." Mike sounded nervous.

"So you want me to go along and make sure she doesn't, I don't know, kill them?" Trina thought she was joking, until she saw the look on mikes ace. "Who is she?"

Trina didn't know all the students who trained here, but unless she was trained individually by one of the others, then it had to be someone Trina had seen at least once in the last eight years. Of course, if the girl was from the inner city, or gang related, then it's possible she'd never seen her.

"Batman's sister. She's still trains with him, and Richie was working with her when she fought professional. Used the ring name of Mandy Walker." Mike said.

Trina had heard of Mandy. Girl fought six matched in five months, winning all but the last one. She dominated the local league, but couldn't hack it when, desperate for a challenger, the big league world organization payed for her to face off against Shelby Marx. Mandy lasted almost the full first round, but when Shelby reversed her ground and pound strategy into a triangle choke, had to tap out. Trina could act unimpressed, or could remind herself that almost no one lasts a full round with Shelby Marx.

Trina followed mike into the office, anxious to see this girl who, according to Richie, could have beaten the chap if she didn't freeze once she had the girl grounded. Her excitement turned sour when she waled in and saw her. Her sisters friend, Adam's half-sister, and the overall pain in her ass, Jade West.

:}

Maybe we'll hear from jade in the future.

I bet no one knows why Adam is called batman.

Reviews are welcome. It may even inspire me to write more...


	2. Chapter 2

Here's chapter two, Jades POV. Not much action, but it sets the stage. It's probably as dark as this story is going to get. Be warned.

:}

Jade had been sitting in Mike's office for about half an hour, more nervous than she'd ever been while in that office. She remembered when it was Wyatt's office. "Grandpa's office' she thought. He'd developed this style of MMA along with Mike back when Mike was fighting professionally. That was back before MMA became as popular as it was, in the 80's. Wyatt, her Fathers stepfather, had also been a big influences on her family, even if her father didn't want him to. Jade had always known about this place, this dojo, but never felt so much like an outsider as today.

Now they were all upset with her, but she could understand that. Her grandfather Wyatt, his son Kevin, and her brother Adam, they all felt that she took it too far. She let her pride get in the way, and now she had to do Mike a favor so he'd talk to them. He'd get them to see it was a one time thing, and then help her win back their approval.

Her Father had gotten over it, almost too quickly. Then again, her father never wanted anything to do with the whole MMA thing. When her grandmother married Wyatt, Her father was still a teenager, and somehow the two never got close. If Adam, Her half brother from her fathers first marriage, hadn't been having so many problems, her family would still be keeping their distance. But MMA gave Adam a focus in his life, helped him turn into the kind of son her father always wanted, and Adam wanted so desperately to have something to share with Jade.

It' wasn't that she didn't want to be on Television, Just not as Mandy Walker, but that fight carried too big a purse. How could she say no. That kind of money made a difference in peoples lives. Even the losses payout had helped her put her family into a better house and away from the neighbor she hated. She was able to tell herself she was doing this for her mother and for her baby brother. If only she'd tapped.

'It was Tori's fault.' Jade thought as the evening came back into her head. 'No, it was mine.' After she broke up with Beck the second time, she needed an outlet, if only so she didn't wind up hurting people. She'd already worked so hard at not being a normal bully, and only picked on those who were otherwise immune to bullies. Those who should have been able to take it. But to fight professionally gave her the chance to cut loose and earn some money. Jade always needed money. Her family always needed money.

Her family wasn't rich, but they were good at making sure everyone had what they needed. Jade used what she earned to help the family. It was what a good daughter should do. While her father was on wife number three, or had he moved on to number four, it fell on Jade to be the man of her family, just like Adam had been the man of his.

Jade won five matches in four months. She knew she wasn't supposed to fight that often, usually fighters were limited to once every three months, but Jade had avoided injury, not to mention she just ignored the standard recommendations. Those victories along with her ground and pound strategies made her look like a champion, so they gave her a shot at a champion. They gave her a shot at THE champion.

'She looked so much like Tori.' Jade though as she remembered the fight. Jade had the advantage. Shelby was a striker, and a good one. Jade had danced around until she could get close and execute a takedown. She was supposed to roll the girl so she'd be on her face, Jade across her back, but the goth just settled for a different hold and worked to free one of her own arms while holding the girl in place. Once that was done, she'd just pound the girl until they stopped the fight. Jade was good at all the areas of MMA, but against a striker she usually went for the submission.

It was that moment, when she should have won it all, that things all fell apart. She looked into the brown eyes of Shelby and noticed how much the girl looked like Tori. Jade found she couldn't do it. As much as she should have wanted to tear Tori's head off, as much as she claimed to hate the younger of the Vega sisters, in that moment she couldn't bring herself to mangle a face that looked like hers.

Shelby took the moment and rolled back and forth until she started to break free. As Jade shifted to stay on top, Shelby got her feet free and used them to get Jade in a triangle choke. It was all over. 'I should have tapped.' Jade thought again. Pride and shame kept her from submitting.

They were able to revive her with just a little mouth to mouth, and Jade was then banned from competing for six months. Then her family got upset. 'It's entertainment. It's never supposed to be to the death.' they told her. 'A good fighter knows when their beaten. You should have remembered that.' She was ashamed she hesitated, so she lost, and her pride would not let her tap. Jade couldn't admit it was her pride that got in her way. Her pride that got her that close to dying. It all happened just a couple of months ago.

Jade had been on bad relations with those in her family who were involved in the Dojo ever since. They'd forgive her, but that didn't change the fact that she hadn't won back their approval. Every time she was with any of them, or even Richie, she could see the disappointment in their eyes. They would remind her about how the competition is about honor, and respect, and that there was no shame in admitting when the fight was over.

She had to do something. Adam and Richie and even Kevin were always so pissed when they were around her. And she missed her private training sessions with her brother and Grandfather, the ones that helped her achieve her second degree black belt in just eight years, about as fast as it could be done. Second degree, where she would be allowed to teach. They'd never let her teach now.

Jade was about as young as allowed for her rank, Just like Adam, who was seven years older and three belts ahead of her. 'Uncle' Kevin was a seventh degree black belt, while Mike was ninth degree. Her grandfather, Wyatt, was a grand master at tenth degree. Jade had watched each of these men achieve those ranks, and knew how proud they should have been at her recent achievement. They never said a word.

Jade was focused on following in her family's tradition, participating in the Dojo. It had given her a feeling of connection with her family she didn't always get at home. Now, however, she was waiting for Mike to come and tell her what he wanted. In return, he'd help her gain back what she had lost. She once again wondered what she would have to do to win back the affection of these members of her family affiliated with the dojo. How could she make it up for not tapping, for almost dying. Jade waited for the meeting that would help her, change her life, and give her the maturity they thought she was lacking. She felt resolute, like she'd walk through hell to win their respect back. Then she saw Mike coming, and butterflies took flight in her stomach. Now was the moment she found out what it would cost her.

Mike walked into the office leading someone else, and Jade almost let her pride cost her a second time. Her first thought was 'NO'. There was no way she'd be doing whatever with that talentless hack. The one who, despite being a grade ahead in school, seemed to spend so much time trying to be a part of her social group. The girl who, despite being decent looking, was so annoying she couldn't land a decent guy. Trina Vega. Sister to the reason she was in this trouble in the first place.

Mike spoke up. "Jade, Trina and you are going to take over the training at the community center, just for the next couple of months, until Stan's had his next Championship fight." he left no room for debate, and Jade was sure this was going to be her personal hell.

:}

Okay, everyone knows about Adam West. I could have made it harder, I guess.

This story is slowly coming along. I hope for lighter fare once we get past the initial reactions.

And finally, review. Peter pan lied, pixies only heal when people review. Why do you think there are so few of them running around. So save a pixie.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi again. I still don't own or profit from anything.

Read and review.

:}

"Why her?" The question could have been asked by either girl, but Trina was the first to speak. Mike was ready, his response already on his lips, expected to be answering Jade.

"Trina has a lot more experience teaching the lower belts than you do. Jade, I trust you with the higher belts, but you don't always know when to back off. And you weren't the one to ask, were you?" Mike looked around, both girls looked annoyed, but he knew Jade had heard him.

"Trina, while there are a lot of reasons Jade is needed for the community center classes, her second degree black belt included, the big one is she's fought professionally. Even fought for a major title. The kids involved at the center, many of them are gang related. While the program is to get them out of the gangs, whomever teaches them needs some credibility or they won't listen. One round with Shelby Marks, not to mention being her only submission victory, gives Jade that credit." Mike explained.

"Oh I get it now. Adam West. Like the actor dude who played him back in the stone age. Funny, I always thought they called him Batman because of his dark hair, blue eyes, and he's six three and what, two thirty?" Trina said, out of the blue. All eyes were on her for several moments, "Yea I heard, but the whole batman thing was bugging me."

"It's funny now, but kids could be so cruel." She seemed to snap back to the present. "Anyways, I have to work with Trina, huh? And she what, first degree brown? Yea, I can do this." Jade seemed to be talking to herself.

"Before you take over, I recommend you go to the community center and check things out. Trina may know this, but we work in conjunction with the police Athletics league, so you're going to want to talk to the liaison officer as well. And Finally, Jade, these guys think they're tough, but were dealing with mostly lower belts. So lets not drive them away, okay." Mike said.

"Got it" Jade said. Trina just nodded knowingly.

Mike continued. "Now, I was going to recommend you two get to know one another, but I think it's wiser if you two learn to coexist. Learn to work together. And Trina, in our style, every brown belt works one on one with an instructor to prepare them for the day they take the black belt test. I'm going to assign you to Jade. She's done that before, for some higher browns, and is really good at it."

"Sounds good" Trina said. She was disappointed. She had been working with Stan. It made sense that he couldn't do it if he was getting ready for another title shot.

"I guess that's all. Get out of here, I have a dojo to run." Mike said.

Jade had a million questions, but didn't ask any of them. She just walked out of the office and towards the locker area. She felt the need to beat on something until something, anything gave. Trina followed her, almost like a lost puppy.

"What?" Jade shot at Trina.

"Adam was cute. I was just wondering what's he up to?" Trina said. Jade rolled her eyes and continued to get changed into her uniform. Like everything else she owned, hers was solid black. "Come on, he's your brother. You have to know what he's up to?"

"He's a lawyer, does entertainment law. And why am I telling you any of this?" Jade said.

"We have to work together. I figured you'd tell me about him, and from there I'd figure out why your into this and yet never told anyone." Trina said, starting to piece things together. Yes, sometimes Trina was clueless, but if it didn't involve her ego, she was as perceptive as anyone. "So is he still training people?"

"Last I heard, he burned himself out training some Goomer down in Venice beach. The guy was good enough, but dumber than a post. My brother just couldn't deal with it. Or maybe he got upset at me. Either way, he's taking some time off." Jade said.

"Why is he upset with you. I mean, it could be because your a cold, cruel gank, but family's supposed to look past that, so why's he so pissed?"" Trina said. Jade seemed to ignore the dig.

"Because I didn't tap out. And now everything's janked up because I wouldn't fudging tap out." It seemed to be a sore subject to the goth.

"That makes sense. I'd be pissed too if Tori almost died over a belt. Not to mention the blatant disregard for your own safety. I mean, six fights in five months. Last I heard, that wasn't even legal. But don't worry, he'll get over it. Just give him some time." Trina said, sounding almost comforting towards the end..

"Thanks, but we're not friends. You don't have to try and make me feel better." Jade said, leading the way to the big bags. Trina continued to follow.

"We have to work together, so I figured I'd give you some advice from my years of being a big sister." Trina said. "It doesn't mean we'll be friends. It means I'll get along with another of my sisters friends."

"We're not friends!" Jade snapped quickly. "I mean Tori and I are not friends."

Trina wasn't good at a lot of things, but despite her dating record, she was far better than any of Tori's friends when it came to figuring out who they liked. That statement wasn't new, but today is screamed denial. Trina locked it away for future blackmail material, and continued to watch Jade.

The goth moved almost flawlessly, each blow striking with the kind of force Trina hoped to one day generate. The bag bent in ways she hardly ever saw, and Trina could tell that Jade was probably closer to third degree, despite her only recently achieving her second. The goth was dangerous. Trina wanted to ask so many questions, like why she never showed this kind of skill when she was at school, or how she got involved in the first place. Trina wanted to know just what made Jade so determined to win back whatever she had lost from the various instructors here at the dojo.

"Jade, I can see I'll learn a lot from you. However, I think we will need to get together after we drop by the community center and talk things out. Why don't we go by and look things over after school tomorrow, maybe talk to Stan, and then we can meet at my place and go over our plans." Trina said.

"Why don't we just get some coffee and go over our plans after we talk to Stan?' Jade asked, never taking her focus off the bags. Trina noted how Jade had full awareness of what was around her, like she did this for self defense, while never losing her focus on her target or what her next move would be.

"There's no hot tub at the coffee place." Trina said, and with that she knew she had Jade hooked. Now it was just about figuring the girl out. 'Maybe I'll marry her brother. It's best to be friends with my future sister-in-law' Trina thought.

"Okay, tomorrow we meet at the community center, then after we talk to Stan, we go to your place to soak and talk." Jade said, agreeing with Trina. "But this doesn't mean I like you, or your sister." Trina smiled at that, Jade didn't need to add the last part, and it screamed denial. At the same time, she watched Jade's form, and knew studying under Jade would be an experience. Trina just had to make sure it was a good one.

And she might warn Tori about the whole black belt thing, just to remember the next time she gets in an argument with the goth. Stabbed by scissors just moved down the list of dangers Jade represented.

:}

I noticed most of you hate pixies. Please review.

For those who don't know. Professional MMA leagues usually suspends fighters for 90 days after each fight, so they can heal. That's how far they have to go to keep the fighters healthy as possible. Jade fought 6 fights in 5 months. Think about it.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer. I checked, still don't own or profit from anything.

:}

The community center was in a bad part of town, but the police presence made it very safe. No banger wanted to start trouble where upwards of fifty off duty police officers might be hanging out. It was probably one of the safest places in the neighborhood.

The other thing that made it safe was simple utility. Even gangs recognize the necessity of neutral ground. The center was a place where they could go and have fun, often playing in organized sports or taking classes. It was simple enough to declare it shared, and leave it that way. If pressed, everyone would point out the center was police territory, but usually they just left it as no ones. Even the tagging crews kept away, so the center looked fairly clean compared to the near by buildings.

This was where Trina and Jade found themselves after school. Neither was willing to be seen in the others car, so they both drove. Trina got there first. She'd been there more regularly, often helping out with the Police Athletic League as part of her required community service for graduation. Her father had helped set that up, and so Trina was know in the center. She had also used it as an excuse to have Stan train her, since he was often here, even on the days when his classes were not being taught.

Jade had been here, once or twice, but not in over three years. Wyatt had taken her back when the program started, back when Stan had first started teaching at the center. She was supposed to see kids who had it worse than she did. Mostly, her grandfather wanted to show her that she could give back to the community with the skills she had been taught. Jade didn't come back after the program was up and running.

Together, the two entered the building and made their way towards the staff area. Jade had a key, but they didn't need it. Trina was able to get someone to open the staff only door with a quick word and a smile. Jade was shocked at how easily they passed this supposed barrier, meant to keep the kids out of the adult world of the staff and trainers. She was also seeing a very different Trina.

"They know me," Trina said, as if that was all she needed to say.

In the back they found several cramped offices. One was reserved for the dojo. In it were they stored the files and any supplies unique to the needs of a MMA trainer.

"When the dojo first started here, we only got a filing cabinet in a shared office." Jade said.

"Yea, but then the PAL decided that offices were more convenient. Sometimes the instructors need to talk with their students while the training spaces are otherwise occupied." Trina stated. The rivalry was starting, but at the same time Jade noted how Trina knew about the PAL.

Jade used her key to open the office, and the two found places to sit. Jade immediately snagged the office chair behind the desk, so Trina took the loveseat. Once they were seated, there was a moment before Jade got up to open the filing cabinet and look over the files. Neither wanted to be the one to move, but Jade had a job to do, so decided to move first. She rummaged through the files quickly, then pulled out a thumb drive.

"We can't take that" Trina said, so quickly it felt like she was waiting to say it.

"Why not?" Jade looked wazzed. Trina was being difficult, and she wasn't happy about it..

"Because, unlike the what's kept at the dojo's, there's private information stored on that drive." Trina said. Jade digested that statement for several second.

"But how are we supposed to lug out the names and training notes for all the students if we can't take the files?" Jade asked.

"I'll get someone to make a copy of the pertinent information on another drive." Trina said, smirking. She'd brought a second drive just for that purpose. Jade sighed, the started reading files while Trina went and used her familiarity with the people to get the files edited and transferred.

Trina was having fun. Jade was a damn good fighter, and probably knew her stuff when it came to the MMA part of the assignment, but the girl was clueless when it came to people. She relied on fear to motivate people, while being totally unfamiliar with the concept of working with people who _didn't_ know what they were doing. Trina suspected one of the reasons some people got cast in some of Sikowitz's plays was so Jade could see how he motivated and inspired his cast. The man was crazy, but he knew how to motivate by example.

'I'm going to have to teach her how to work with these kids. I NEED her to succeed so she can help me get my black belt. Also, I think dad would be upset if she killed off her entire class. Yes, I'm definitely going to have to teach her some people skills.' Trina pondered what she was going to need to do as she saw some of the guys she knew entering the center. She waved, and they acknowledged her with a quick nod. It was funny how those boys had to act cool, even when it wasn't going to get them anything.

That brought up her other problem. While the center, along with the PAL, was for anyone who could use it, most of the kids who used the center were teens, and a lot more boys than girls. Jade was about seventeen, making her just a year or two older than most of the boys she'd be dealing with. A few were going to be her age or even 18, especially in the MMA classes. Trina was ready for them to hit on her, they did it all the time when she helped out in the gym. 'She's going to kill someone.' Trina thought again. Acting macho wasn't the way to Jade's heart. As she waited for the secretary to finish editing and transferring the documents, she started making a list of who she knew from the center that it would be okay for Jade to annihilate.

Jade was looking through the files and getting frustrated. The classes were well attended, often twenty students per class, but they weren't showing much progress. The belts for her family style went white, yellow, blue, green, purple, brown, then black. The style had decided on four stages, or degrees, per belt. The Up through brown, degrees were represented by one to four black stripes on each end of the belt. Once you got to the black belts, where the ten degree's were represented with red stripes. Her grandfather, and any tenth degree belt, could wear a red belt instead. Students could test once every three months to advance until brown. Almost no one passed every test, and while it looked like someone could make it to brown in under five years years, it usually took eight or more. Sometimes, a student would skip a degree of a belt, but no one skipped belts. Jade knew all of this by heart. The second degree black belt test included written questions about the belting system. Jade knew that the lowest belts were the easiest to obtain, and a good student could still make blue in two to three years.

That was the problem. Most of the students were white or yellow belts. They weren't getting it. Yes, it was hard, but after three years she really expected a few blue's in the program. Jade read file after file, seeing Stan praise them for their dedication and hard work, yet their skills just didn't seem to match. Finally, Trina returned.

"We've got a lot of work ahead of us." Jade said, sounding annoyed.

"Really? Why?" Trina hadn't read the files yet, so she had no idea what Jade was talking about.

"They're not advancing. I thought we'd have some advanced students by now, but we don't have a single blue." Jade said.

"Contrary to what you might think, even the classes at the regular dojo's don't always advance that fast. People drop out, start over, need to unlearn stuff. It's not that easy, even with the best of classes. And this, this is a different world, Jade. These are poor people, often with other responcibilities. They can't always make it to class regularly. And sometimes, even when they can, they don't have what they need to pick everything up. They don't always have enough to eat, or can focus their minds on the task at hand. Their lives get in the way." Trina told Jade.

"And that's just half of it. Some of the students don't test. They take the classes but never officially join the PAL. You might have some really talented students who just never got the belt to represent their skills. Jade, we need to read everything about these kids, and go from there." Trina told her. The Latina was not surprised Jade didn't understand. As far as she knew, Jade came from money. 'Please understand. I can't have you killing anyone I like.' Trina silently pleaded.

Jade looked at the Latina, not sue if she should believe her. 'Adam never let me quit, so I guess I don't know what it's like for them.' she finally thought. "Okay, lets get out of here. You can tell me all about it while I soak in your hot tub." Jade really wanted that soak right now.

:}

First, I made a correction on the belting system. I found an on line source for a semi-official MMA organization and let that inspire me. Now it takes two years, sometimes less, to advance though the browns.

Trina has no idea about Jade's family dynamics. Jade seems to come from money, with no proof ever given in the show. I just used that assumption.

Read, review, enjoy. Not necessarily in that order.

Tori's not a fighter, but she has a lot of other things going for her. Her strengths are her talents and how well she gets along with EVERYBODY.

Lost of notes today.


	5. Chapter 5

Just read and review. :} Jade and Trina were planning on meeting up at the Vega residence later. The black belt had, at Trina's recommendation, gone home to take care of a little homework before enjoying a long soak in the hot tub. Trina had used the drive home to take care of some business. She remembered that her father and his partner Gary were the principle liaisons for the community center, and that Gary handled the sports and MMA, so she gave him a quick call. He'd been helpful, but cautioned her against taking risks. Gang members weren't always respectful of young ladies. Trina could take most guys one on one, but in numbers there was always a greater danger. Trina promised to pass that warning along to Jade.

Trina decided to test her new theory about Jade's interest in Tori while she had the chance. She'd need an edge to control Jade if the guys at the center tried to act tough and pissed her off. Jade was dangerous when pissed. The goth had developed an almost cowardly reaction to potential fight situations, but a little research on Gary's part had shown a series of would be tough guys who'd assumed that Jade wouldn't fight back. Trina suspected Jade's fake tough reputation was hiding her real abilities. Trina wanted to know why, but figured she'd find out once she had a little leverage.

Trina was making preparations for her talk with Jade. She wanted everything to go smoothly. By the time Jade got there, they would have both gone over each students more carefully and decided on how they would approach training them. Jade was also calling Stan to get advice and recommendations. They wanted to be ready by next week. Except for her lack of useful social skills, Jade would probably be ready by tomorrow. The goth was good at getting things done.

Trina made a mental list of what she wanted to accomplish tonight. First, she wanted to establish a good working relationship with Jade. They were both competitive, and if they got in each others way, it would hurt the schools reputation, as well as her own. Second, she wanted to confirm that Jade had a thing for Tori. Since the younger girl's best asset was her ass, Jade would have to get her sister to bend over at some point and watch Jade's reaction. Fortunately, while Tori was smart, she could be manipulated. Trina just had to make sure to sound sincere. Finally, she wanted to get started on her own training. Jade was good. Trina could learn a lot from the budding serial killer.

Wanting to confirm a hunch, Trina then called Cat. Trina just wanted to check out what Jade had told her friends, and Beck wasn't likely to tell her anything yet. Cat was easy to manipulate, so Trina decided to try her first.

"Hi HI" Cat answered the phone.

"Cat, Trina here. I have a question. Has Jade ever used the name Mandy Walker?" Trina hoped the simple girl could help her.

"No, I've never herd her use that name. Who's Mandy Walker supposed to be?" Cat replied. That's when she heard a commotion over the phone. Cats new roommate was talking fast, and Trina doubted Cat would get it. "K K, I have to go now. Sam thinks Mandy might be this fighter chick who hurts people professionally. Bye"

Trina was no closer to finding out. Since her sister had the bad habit of leaving it around sometimes, she borrowed Tori's phone and called Beck. She knew she'd have to do this quickly, before he hung up. As soon as he answered, she spoke, praying Jade wasn't at her ex's place. "Did you know Jade fought professionally?" Trina said, amazed she spaced her words at all.

"Trina? Is this some kind of prank? Jade's scarey, but no fighter." he said. Trina hoped he wouldn't hang up.

"Then who's Mandy Walker?" She shot back.

"No one, and never mention that name around Jade. Seriously, that is not someone to compare her to." Beck sounded worried.

"I was just asking because Mandy will be my one on one instructor for the next year, and I wanted to know..." Trina started, but Beck hung up. A short time later, as she was taking the phone back to her sister, he called her back.

"Hello?" She said.

"Okay, Jade is Mandy, but that's a sore subject to bring up. She doesn't talk about that. Ever. Does Jade know she's going to be training you?" he asked.

"Yep, talked to her already. Just wondering who knew." Trina said.

"Who knew what?" Tori asked. "Is that my phone?"

"Just me. Andre suspects, but doesn't know. I think Sikowitz suspects too. Jade doesn't want us to know about that. I think she doesn't want to be reminded what she did to Fitzsimins." Beck said. Trina didn't ask.

"I got to return Tori's phone. I'll talk to you later." Trina said. After she hung up, she handed Tori back her phone.

"And why were you using my phone?" Tori asked.

"Beck keeps hanging up on me. I needed to ask him a question." Trina said.

"About what?" Tori asked.

"Jade's a second degree black belt at my Dojo. I drew her as my trainer for the next year." Trina said, sounding casual. "She's also taking over for Stan at the community center."

"Stan's leaving? I like him. He's nicer than some of the guys Dad works with. I swear, he and Gary should never have taken police liaison duty. They work with some nutjobs. And their on the anti-gang task-force." Tori said. She wasn't into the martial arts, preferring more 'girly' activities. Beyond the self defense classes her father made her take, she was fairly untrained, and had lousy instincts. Trina had seen her lose to a twelve year old just a few weeks earlier. But where the younger lacked combat skills, she was great with her people skills. As sheltered as she was, Trina wished Tori was working with her. It would be safer.

"Tori, I'm going to need a favor from you. Don't ask why, just do it. I think my stalker is back, and I'm going to need a distraction to help catch him." Trina knew it was a lie, but it was a believable lie, so Tori would fall for it.

"Wait, Jade's a black belt? I thought you said you liked this style because it's good for hurting people. How much could Jade hurt me?" Tori asked.

"Normally I'd say a lot, except I don't think she can. She has a block that keep her from using the techniques on people. I know of one example for sure." Trina said. It was another lie, but this one was based on what she thought was true.

"Just to be safe, I think I'll give her a lot of space. At least until I'm sure." Tori said.

"Okay, after tonight you do that." Trina said, smiling.

"She's coming here, isn't she." Tori looked worried.

"Just for a soak in the hot tub, to discuss her classes at the community center." Trina said. "I'll still need your help. Jade would be too obvious."

"Okay, but only if you guarantee my safety." Tori was nervous. Trina just enjoyed the moment, then explained what she wanted her sister to do.

:}

I have nothing to add except review. The next chapter is from Jade's POV.


	6. Chapter 6

Jade was annoyed as she called Stan. Trina was right, Jade didn't understand the students at the community center. Adam had always known her limits, he always knew just how much to push her. She'd never understood that about him. She hated only one thing about her brother, how good a trainer he was. Everyone talked about him as if he was the best to ever set foot into the dojo. As much as she wanted anything, she wanted to be appreciated for her abilities the way he was. It was one of the reasons she hated Tori so much. While Trina had minimal talent. (Jade often said the had none, but that was in comparison to the highly talented kids at Hollywood Arts. Sikowitz had cast her in at least one play, so she had to have some talent. Besides, she could cry on command, a useful skill.) Tori had way too much.

The Latina was winning lead roles and solo's in her first year, before she received significant training. Tori was so naturally gifted a performer, it was only recently, where through hard work and determination, Jade started getting lead's competing against her. Tori worked hard at school, but wasn't used to having to work hard for what she got. It was why the gorilla club was such a good idea. Tori had finally reached a point where her natural gifts could not compensate, and she had to experience some risks to continue to advance as a performer. Jade took some small pride in any areas where she was better than Tori, because there weren't many. Jade had a better eye for directing, was a better writer, and a better fighter. Tori was a better singer, actor, and played piano as well as Jade did with years less training. And the Latina was naturally lucky. She got into Hollywood Arts without trying, was a friend of Mason Thornsmith, a man who had no real friends, and everyone loved her. Jade had to hate her on principle alone.

Trina was a different problem. Her minimal talent was one reason to dislike her, but her ego made it hard to see past the lack of talent. Jade did admire her determination, as well as how well the often clueless girl seemed to get along at the community center. The more she looked, the more it felt like there were two Trina Vega's. Jade wanted to get to know the second one. The one who was willing to work to succeed. The one that Stan seemed to like.

Stan finally answered his phone. Jade suspected he was training, but didn't ask. "Hi Stan. Mike has me taking over the classes at the community center. I'm going over the list of students, as well as your notes. Anything I should know?" Jade tried to sound sweet. It was hard, but she was a good actor.

"Your taking over?" Stan said. "Okay, I'm going to email you a list of students with attitudes." Then he spoke slowly, emphasizing the last three words. "It's important that you _avoid maiming them._" Jade didn't like the sarcasm.

"I get it. Trina said I needed to take it easy with the lower belts. Oh yea, She's going to help me teach the classes." Jade said. Stan could almost hear her rolling her eyes.

"Good, Trina's a good teacher. Jade, it's important you avoid maiming her as well." Stan said. Jade realized he might not be joking.

"I'm not going to hurt anyone. Well, anyone who doesn't deserve it. Why does everyone assume I'm going to hurt people?" Jade said, feeling frustrated by the conversation.

"Your Adam's sister. We know you. He has a gift for figuring out just how hard he can push his students. You don't. It's nothing against you. I don't have it either. I just know he does, and that I'll survive the training." Stan said.

"Survive? What? Adam's training you? And he didn't tell me why?" Jade was wazzed, and was starting to lose her desire to help the dojo.

"He's one of the best in the business, so I asked him. He didn't tell you because he's still wazzed you didn't ask his help when you went against Shelby Marx. Then he could have thrown in the towel and made sure you didn't pass out." Stan said. Jade was over that conversation quickly.

"Send me the fudging list. I'll make sure I don't hurt them too much. You just tell my brother that I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing this for Wyatt." Jade then disconnected the call. She felt empty. Adam was training again. It bothered her. Still, she knew he'd never just disappear. He was part of the family, and the dojo was a family business.

Now thoroughly wazzed off, Jade was finishing up on an assignment before heading over to the Vega household. She knew she had to talk to Trina about how the whole training thing was to go down, the only benefit being they'd be soaking in the hot tub, and she didn't want what was left of her homework getting in the way. That was when she got a call from Cat. The synthetic redhead had been slowly distancing herself from the group since moving to Venice Beach. Jade still talked to her, but her new roommate and new business was taking up a lot of her time, and new friends in the area took up the rest. Jade missed hanging with her friend.

"This had better be important." Jade answered her phone. She was in a bad mood, and it was best to establish that at the beginning. It saved frustration later on.

"Sorry to bug you, but my roommate needs to know, do you know some ma girl named Mandy? Likes to walk?" Cat asked.

"Ma?" Jade asked. This was odd.

"M.M.A." she heard in the background. Then there was someone else on the phone. "Do you know Mandy Walker?" an excited voice said. It was familiar, but Jade wasn't sure where she'd heard it before.

"No." Jade said. She was in no mood to deal with this.

"Listen. I'm Sam from ICarly. If you know where to reach her, I'd love to meet her. She's just so cool, even if Shelby did beat her." Sam said. Jade was slightly flattered, while convinced she was going to have to kill people to stop this rumor.

"Okay, I'll do that." Jade said. As she was getting ready to hang up, Cat again grabbed the phone.

"Our friend Goomer said he's met your brother. Could you ask Adam to come back and train him? Our friend Dice is managing him, but he needs a good trainer and for some reason your brother's name keeps coming up." Cat said. This started a conversation in the background, Sam and Cat talking quickly to each other. Jade saw where this was going, so hung up. She ignored the inevitable follow up calls and texts from Cats phone. She didn't need this now.

She needed to talk to Trina, and someone was going to die a slow death if they told about her fighting. Jade didn't need any of them knowing. She grabbed her swimsuit, a towel, her purse, a hair tie and her car keys and headed out the door. She closed it hard, and the house reverberated for seconds after she left.


	7. Chapter 7

Jade arrived at the Vega household ready for a fight. As soon as she entered the house, Tori was there handing her a cup of Belgian. "Tell me if you like this?" Tori asked.

"What?" Jade looked at her, not sure what was going on.

"My mother switched brands, and Andre liked the other stuff. I need to know if this is as good as the other Belgian coco." Tori said.

Jade looked at Tori, lost for the moment. Her anger was still under the surface, but the request was so neutral, almost so Tori-like, it was hard for her to say no.

"No." Jade managed to force out, sounding cold and distant.

"But it's a free cup of Belgian coco. How do you refuse a free cup of Belgian coco?" Tori asked.

"Not in the mood Vega. What did your sister tell you? Tell me!" Jade was getting impatient.

Tori was frightened, but remembered what Trina had said, that Jade had a condition and couldn't really hurt her. She'd seen Jade wazzed at Cat, but the redhead was still walking under her own power. Of course, Cat has also been shaved bald once, and been forced to eat stuff she didn't like. Jade may not be able to mess up her face, but the vengeful girl could mess up her life. Despite the looming danger, Tori decided to stand her ground.

"She told me you were going to help her train to hurt people, and that you might like a cup of Bel..." Tori was interrupted.

"NO!" Jade made her opinion clear.

"Taste it for me, and I'll get you a cup of Hawaiian coffee." Tori said, trying to sound as sweet as possible.

"Fine, for the coffee." Jade said as she took the Belgian coco.

"So have you had a chance to look over the files?" Trina asked as she walked down the stairs. She was wearing her best bikini, because if she was going to do some experiments, she would like to have a comparison for Jade's reaction to Tori. Besides, she knew she was a looker, and if Jade was gay, or Bi, she was going to look, regardless of her interests.

So Trina walked to Jade, doing her best fake not flirt move. She walked up to the goth, and took the Belgian coco from her hand. "You should get changed, so we can talk in peace."

Jade's eyes only left hers for a second, but that was just enough. Jade looked down Trina's front, checking out her own best features. Trina didn't need any more reaction. Jade was into girls, and probably had a soft spot for Tori.

Jade quickly took off for the bathroom. "I'd better get my coffee when I get back." She said.

"Only once I get your opinion of the Belgian coco." Tori called back.

As soon as Jade was out of sight, Tori turned to Trina. "You were right, the Belgian coco helped distract her. Shouldn't I have offered her the Hawaiian coffee instead?"

"No, she needed to be confused. Coffee immediately says we were expecting her to be wazzed. Coco says we wanted her opinion. Besides, the coco will help calm her down." Trina said. "Let me take it, and you made me a cup?"

"Yep. Now, I'm supposed to give the stalker time to get in place, then I act, right?" Tori asked.

"Yea, but don't tell Jade. We both know she'll over react, and if it's Sinjin, well lets not go there." Trina said. She hated lying to her sister, but this had to be handled slowly. Once she was sure about Jade's attraction, then she'd figure out if Tori was interested. 'Why not make my sister happy while eliminating my biggest competition for the boys.'

Seconds after Trina made it to the hot tub, Jade came out. Trina watched the goth as she walked. 'If I weren't straight, I'd be tempted' she thought. "Get in so we can get down to business." Trina said.

Jade slid into the hot tub, and took her coco. It had been bugging her that Tori had to tell her where everything was from. Yes, they had exotic foods here, but to Jade it was more about the taste than anything else. And for coco, she didn't much care where it was from. Then she tasted it, and understood why Andre liked it so much. Apparently the Belgians liked their coco a little darker, more pure, than Americans did. 'Who'd have thought Andre would like anything that wasn't as sweet as possible?' She thought.

Jade and Trina spent a few minutes going over the students. Other than the ones with attitudes, there wasn't much to go over. Jade had to respect their limits, and be okay with them if they wanted to relax for a bit.

"It's going to be a problem, you know." Trina said. The lack of context was bugging Jade.

"What is?" Jade asked.

"Guys in a class taught by girls. We need to keep them from over exerting themselves, but you know how guys are. I'm expecting a lot of showboating trying to get our attention. We need a shield, something to keep focused on their exercises." Trina said.

"I'll convince them not to mess with me." Jade said.

"One with a lower body count. Besides, Guys, especially guys in gangs, it's all about keeping face." Trina said. "You beat one down, he might do something stupid to regain his pride and place in the gang. Lets think of something else."

"How about I show them I'm taken?" Jade asked.

"I like the idea, but the term 'show them' worries me." Trina said. "I think it's best if we establish that our dojo has a no dating rule, and hope we don't lose too many students for it."

Jade thought about it. She was turning it over in her mind, trying to find one thing wrong with it, but found none. They'd have to do most of their own workouts somewhere else, just to avoid the amorous boys, but it sounded like the best way to avoid being hit upon. Other than having everyone fear her. Jade started planning a demonstration to get their respect. One where she didn't make any of them look foolish.

Just then, Tori came out of the house in her own bikini. 'Doesn't anyone wear one piece suits anymore?' Jade thought. 'But then again, if you got it, flaunt it.' jade's eyes scanned the Latina's body, taking in every detail. Tori was carrying Jade's coffee to her, something she deeply appreciated, even if it did make her appreciation of Tori just a little more felt.

Tori walked towards them, then seemed to notice something as she passed. She stopped, turned around, and started to reach for whatever caught her attention. However, Tori was bending at the waist instead of bending her knees. Jade was suddenly very aware of her rear, and was having trouble focusing on planning the demonstration. She was grateful for the jacuzzi, since it was possible she was sweating.

Through it all, Trina was watching. The reaction was expected, but not the degree. 'Jade is so crushing on Tori. Hard' Trina thought. 'Maybe it's time for a change in plan.'

Tori finished what she was doing and made her way to the tub. The singer then handed Jade her coffee and stepped into the tub. Once she slid in, she addressed Trina. "See anything?"

"Nope. I'm guessing my stalker isn't here tonight." Trina said. Jade took only a moment to process what Trina said.

"I bet it's Sinjin! If I see that little creep, I'm going to show you how much I can hurt someone!" Jade half screamed. The Goth black belt knew that the lanky kid was likely to stalk the girls he fancied. He'd even been in her house once, while she was at Becks. That was one video chat she didn't want to remember.

In the bushes, just out of sight, Sinjin decided it was time to make a stealthy exit. He'd discovered Jade's uniform a while ago, and had no desire to be on the receiving end of a martial arts demonstration. He only had a couple of lessons himself, just enough to know that a black belt meant trouble.

Robbie, who was secure in his tree, waited for Sinjin to leave to make his escape. He already feared Jade enough on principle alone. But to have both Jade and Trina wanting to hurt him was motivation enough to leave this quiet scene.

Besides, Cat was going to want to see the pictures.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing

:}

Trina woke up to find every muscle in her body hurting. This was not what she'd expected. After they'd sat in the jacuzzi for a while, Jade had offered to train her a bit. The goth instructed her to do some basic kata's to see where she was. All Trina did were basic kata's, basic maneuvers. Jade had her do several, taking about half an hour to cycle through them all. Towards the end, Jade had her do them again, but as if she was fighting for her life. Then came the corrections. Every move had to be held while Jade shifted her stance, or where she held her hands, or body positions, or whatever. Jade was a perfectionist.

The words Jade had spoken came back, sounding a lot less like Jade and more like some other woman. "Power comes from the technique. If you're not true to the technique, you lose power. But at the same time, we have to accept that no two people have the same bodies. Except maybe twins. I hate twins. But anyways. Once we know your body, we can adjust the moves and technique to better serve your frame. That's where your power will come from." Jade had lectured her.

Jade reminded her about what they were doing, and why they were doing it, several more times as she continued to go over the most basic moves, again and again. Trina was amazed how sloppy she seemed under Jade's careful eyes. Jade didn't care about teaching her new stuff. At least not yet. Jade was focused on her doing everything far better than she'd been doing it up until that point.

"You will know the techniques, and teach them. But that's not enough. You need to know your body, how it moves and how it reacts. When your done, you will know your body well enough to know when and how to adjust to the changes it goes through, both in a fight, and due to age." Jade had said. So here she was, the next morning, and she was hurting.

'Now I see why she needs help." Trina thought, as she pulled her aching body from the bed and moved slowly to take her shower. 'I do Yoga, dance, and martial arts, and this is how I felt after three hours of her training. The boy's might not make it.'

One shower later, and Trina was starting to move more naturally. She still ached, but her muscles had relaxed some, so there was less stiffness. Trina felt, if she took it easy, she'd be able to help Stan with his going away classes tonight and Friday night. She hoped Jade would be there, so they could introduce her, and so Stan could give her pointers on not overworking the students.

"Trina, what happened?" Tori asked. Then, with an evilish smirk "Did she break you?"

"I'm not the one she wants to break." Trina said. Then quickly added "It's just hard to keep up with her. She has no idea how much I can do. Three hours felt okay, but once we stopped, it cough up with me quickly. Should have soaked in the jacuzzi after the training session."

"It looked like you were only covering the basics." her father said. Both sisters jumped at the sound of his voice. He was down stairs, having his morning meal. Neither expected him to be there.

"Yea. Apparently, the higher your belt, the less flaws you're allowed in your style. Jade saw things I don't think Stan noticed. She knows her stuff, just not the people she's training." Trina said.

David Vega watched his daughter as she slowly moved to get cereal. With Holly's decision to not cook breakfast for anyone but herself, the reliance on cold cereal had grown. Trina was hurting like cadets after their first real training session. 'How hard was she working Trina last night.' He was amazed.

"My god, I knew Jade was a perfectionist, but doesn't she know how this would affect you?" Tori asked,

"That's her biggest problem. She didn't know how this would affect me. Imagine if I didn't do Yoga? Or the other physical conditioning I do. Jade would have left me too sore to move today." Trina started to rant. "She can't do that with the boys. Their ego wouldn't take it. No, Jade needs to step back and take it a lot easier on them if she's going to be a great Sensi."

"So tell her. Isn't that why you've been paired with her?' David asked.

"Sure, tell Mandy Walker to take it easy." Trina said, and immediately regretted it. She wasn't supposed to be telling people about that.

"Mandy Walker? The same girl who hospitalized three of her MMA opponents? That girl is a killing machine. I couldn't believe she lost to Shelby Marx. I mean, one second, she had her down. It was over. Then she'd in the triangle choke." David was getting worked up. He noticed the looks on his daughters faces, and calmed down. "We follow that stuff down at the station."

"So she lost, and that's why she can't hurt people anymore?" Tori asked, looking hopeful.

"No." Trina said. "I think she couldn't hurt Shelby because she looked like you. She considers you a friend, and has trouble hurting her friends." Tori looked confused for a second, but let it go.

"That makes sense. Otherwise, Robbie might not be walking around right now." Tori said.

"So Jade's Mandy Walker, huh? Wait until Gary hears about this." David said. "Wait, that means she's the one taking over at the youth center, right? And she doesn't know how to hold back in training?" The officer paled just a bit. "How bad is this going to get?'

"Dad, relax. I'll be there to keep her from going overboard. I'll talk to her today, make sure she knows the limits of our boys, and hopefully no one will get hurt." Trina said. "What could go wrong?"

"That's exactingly what I'm afraid of." their father said.

The drive to school was quiet. For a good three minutes Tori seemed lost in thought. Then she looked at her sister and asked "What aren't you telling me?"

"Jade hasn't come to terms with her bisexuality, or the fact that she'd crushing on you hard. It cost her the fight against Shelby Marx." Trina said. "Or maybe you're referring to how I'm going to need you to go along with my plans to keep her under control."

Tori tried valiantly to make some kind of sound, but all words had failed her. She had no idea how she felt about Jade's attraction to her. She knew she didn't want to be a part of Trina's plans, but suspected she was already in deep. Mostly, she didn't know if she could feel that way about the goth. While she was as subject to the instant desires that came from seeing a hot guy as she'd always been, she'd grown past the point of gawking at Beck. Except for the time he washed his car with his shirt from his back. Or the time...

But Jade was her reason for not kissing beck, for never dating him. Even with her blessing, Tori couldn't bring herself to date the boy. Jade had a hold on her that she couldn't deny. She just needed to figure out what it was before this got out of hand. 'Jade AND Trina involved, It's probably already out of hand.'

Jade, for her part, arrived at School a little early. She didn't like rushing through her morning routine, but she felt she needed to do some damage control before too long. Cat knew about Mandy Walker. Cat's roommate was a fan. There was little chance of her being recognized, but that didn't mean that she was out of the woods yet. They knew about Adam. The Goomer he had trained turned out to be some dork named Goomer. Jade had to be careful. Sam wasn't the kind to be fooled easaly. It was a mater of time before she connected the dots. Jade West, sister to the best MMA trainer in the western hemisphere, and Mandy Walker, the mystery girl who almost beat Shelby Marx. It took only one assumption to make the connection. And then Cat would tell the world, probably post it on the slap.

Jade found Cat sitting outside, talking to Robbie. The nerdy boy jumped when he saw her, but Jade ignored him. Whatever he was up to, Jade would deal with it later. Now she needed to talk to Cat. Get her cover story in before the next mass posting.

"Robbie, leave." she commanded. He looked at Cat for a second, then did as he was asked, moving to where he could return if needed, but was out of earshot. "Okay, Cat, Adam was Mandy Walkers trainer. I met her once, and yes, she does kinda resemble me. But you tell your roommate this. I'm not Mandy Walker. Got that?"

"What?" Cat said, with all innocence. The artificial redhead blinked as she stared at Jade, seemingly lost to whatever the goth was saying.

"I said...Forget it. I'll write it down for you." Jade said. She pulled out a sheet of paper and started writing the note. She even addressed it, so Cat would be more likely to deliver it to the right person.

"Is this about that ma person Sam was all up about?" Cat asked.

"It's MMA." Jade said, reflexively. "M. M. A."

"I know how it's spelled." Cat replied. Jade groaned. This was a waist of time. Jade handed Cat the note, and left to find Beck. She needed someone to bitch to.

Robbie returned, a little nervous. "What was that about?' He asked.

"She's still pretending she was never that Mandy chick." Cat said. "Lets finish transferring the pictures."

Robbie looked around nervously. Cat was often as dense as she seemed, but could put evidence together better than anyone he knew, and make astounding deductions from them. She'd told him yesterday that Jade had fought MMA, and that she needed some pictures to confirm a theory.

Cat's voice cut the air. "Yep, Jade's gay." Robbie looked over to see her looking wazzed. She started ranting "You'd think she'd have the decency to look at me like that." She noticed Robbie staring at her, mouth agape. "It's not that I'm interested, but I'd like to think I'm pretty enough for her to look." Cat explained. "She's never once undressed me with her eyes."

Lost in the absurdity of the situation, the puppeteer realized he was now in deep, with no escape in sight. 'I'd better get a hug out of this.'

:}

Poor Robbie. Still being played. Cat is just a bit insecure, and Trina has her work cut out for her.

So should Robbie get that hug?


	9. Chapter 9

Beck knew something was wrong when Jade burst in on him in the music room. Every student at Hollywood Arts needed to play an instrument, so he'd chosen one of the smaller ones. Beck played the recorder (A small flute like instrument). Today he was playing it for some petite blond with a nice figure. Jade couldn't believe how so many girls fell for that. 'Everyone here play's an instrument, so why is everyone so fudging impressed when Beck does it?' Glancing at the girl. 'She looks totally smitten, and he's not that good.' Jade grumbled in her thoughts.

The girl, who Jade didn't care to know the name of, ran as soon as she entered the room. The look of absolute terror almost breaking through Jade's frustration, but the goth had other things to do. Cutting off any rout of escape from the music room, the actress quickly asked the Canadian the question burning in her mind. "Did you talk to Cat?"

"Probably. I usually do. Today alone, I've said hello, and even asked her how she was doing. I'm guessing this isn't about normal conversation stuff, is it? So whats got you wazzed off this time?" Beck could be brave talking with Jade. He knew how much she hated violence without reason. As long as he never pushed her past that edge, never gave her a reason, he could be fairly flippant and get away with it.

"Someone told her about Mandy." Jade huffed.

"So? It's not like she has a clue who that is." Beck said, Inside, he was getting nervous. Jade had a lot of secrets, and someone was letting Cat, the person he knew who was the easiest to manipulate, know about one of Jade's bigger ones. Still, intimidating as Jade was, he almost laughed at the absurdity of her situation.

"Her roommate, Sam, is a fan of MMA. I think she suspects." Jade sighed.

"Sam from ICarly, right?" Beck asked. Sam had a nice body, so Beck considered paying the redhead a visit. He usually did well with scheming, possibly unstable women anyways. Sam might make a nice change from the damsels he'd been charming as of late.

"Worse, my brother trained a friend of theirs. It won't be hard to put two and two together." Jade looked worried. Beck thought for a second. Cat might not make the connection, but Sam would.

"And what? Jade West might be feared at Hollywood Arts? I'm not sure there are many here who'd make fun of you for tapping out." Beck said, then softer "Not if they wanted to live."

"That's not the point." She said, then turned to face the wall. "I only fought because we needed the money. I never wanted people to know just how poor we are." Jade fumed.

"Not anymore. You've got a great house, and thanks to the down payment you made, the 'rent' is less than where you lived before. I'm guessing it worked." Beck knew calming Jade down was the best thing to do. People might be safe, hopefully, but she could still do a lot of damage to property.

""I think it was Trina." Jade said, looking at the clock. "I'll bet she was trying to confirm what Mike told her."

"And you care why?" Beck said again. "Look, if Trina told Cat, it wasn't to deliberately expose you. I'd want to know if my training partner was capable of nearly killing a three hundred pound man. You're dangerous. Trina has the right to know. But babe, it's not going to get all over the school. Cat will forget withing a couple of days, and no one else needs to know. You know Cat, she won't tell unless she's asked." He looked Jade in the eye. "And if she was going to tell, it'd already be all over the school."

Jaded didn't answer. She'd come here to vent, to be angry, and once again Beck didn't even let her have that. Now she felt calm, collected. Worse, she knew he was right. 'Besides, it's not like my secret will last long once I start teaching at the community center.' Jade let it go, and Beck thanked God she could.

Later, during lunch, Trina approached Jade. Seeing she was with her friends, Trina decided to play it cool. "Jade, I just wanted to talk to you about a one woman play I'm thinking of doing."

Everyone was staring. "What? Jade's one of the best directors at school, and I couldn't considerate if I got Beck to help me. So Jade, can I have a word?" Trina was insulted. It was so obvious that she should only consult the best.

"Don't?" Jade said back. She doubted anyone would understand the subtlety of her cut, but still it tickled her. She then, with a sigh, got up and followed Trina to a slightly more isolated location away from the table. "Whats up, and I'm hoping it's not another one woman play."

"Naa. That still needs to be edited. This is about tonight. I just wanted to tell you that my body hurts, and no, it's not the good pain. My god, how is there a good pain? Point it, you pushed me too hard last night." Trina said.

"You can take it." Jade replied. She really didn't see that as a problem. Jade knew how to fight, but like a lot of guys, she believed that you work through a little inconvenience.

"Working too hard doesn't give the benefits people used to think they did. I read that in my fitness magazines." Trina said. "More important, the boys tonight may look like there in great shape, but they don't have the conditioning we do. You could hurt them, or drive them away. We're dealing with the male ego here. No guy wants to look weak. Watch Stan, learn from him and tone it down, okay? We want, no need survivors to keep the program going."

Jade rolled her eyes, but nodded that she understood. As she returned to the table, she continued Trina's cover. "Horrible idea for a play, but I told her the biggest problem was her choice in lead actress."

"That's mean. True, but mean." Tori said. She was inwardly struggling with what Trina told her, but that didn't change who she was.

Cat just giggled. Robbie was looking at Cat longingly, while Andre and beck were talking about girls. No one seemed to care about the drama that was unfolding just below the surface between Trina and Jade.

Jade was safe for now, but her secrets were slowly coming out. It was a matter of pride that no one knew how poor her family was. While they were never on assistance, she wasn't able to afford what she wanted the way her classmates could. The fighting had helped far more than she'd ever admit. Just the change in address, buying out a distressed property, had lowered how much her family paid for rent, and she could afford so much more of what she needed to blend at school. Now she had to figure out how to erase Mandy from everybody's memory.

Jade's other problem was Adam. Being one of the best trainers in the business let him charge serious rates for evaluations and consultations with him. That money had helped him pay for college. Jade wanted to pay for her own education, to be like him. To do that, she needed money. Mandy had become an anchor, so she needed something else. Adam would pay for her, but she didn't want that from him. She wanted him to be proud of her, something she'd lost when she started fighting professionally.

Jade had work experience. As soon as she was old enough for a work permit, she'd taken shifts at a local diner as a waitress. Before that, she'd worked a paper rout. Jade always had one thing or another to bring in cash. While she saved what she could, she had her expenses. She liked nice cloths, and even using discount shops or factory direct pricing, she had to have the money for her fashion sense.

That brought the other part of her agreement with Wyatt. While she worked at the community center, to help offset any lost income, the Police Athletics League payed all instructors a stipend. When she heard that, she thought back to one of the more obscure quotes of David St. Hubbins, or maybe it was more of a paraphrasing, in the thought 'Stipend, it's like pay, only less.' However, it was money coming in, making Jade a professional Sensei. Once she'd established she herself as a trainer, she would be able to work for the family business part time and earn some cash to help her pay for college, or maybe get some new cloths. No matter what option she chose, it might help her grow closer to her family. Working as a waitress was only testing her patience before she tried to hurt on of the customers. They liked to touch her rump, and she was trying so hard no to hurt them.

'Adam, I'll make you proud, even if it kills me.' She thought, completely missing the reason he was wazzed at her.


	10. Chapter 10

By evening, Jade was getting nervous. She was about to be judged, and while the performer in her wasn't nervous, she was a talented and trained actress, her skills and a teacher were in doubt. Jade hated the thought of being judged inadequate for a position she wasn't sure she wanted, even if she kinda needed it. So she did what she could to help her calm down. She showed up to the center early, parking in the staff lot in back this time, and once she was inside she helped set up for the class. As soon as everything was ready, she decided to work out her stress on the heavy bag. She slowly wrapped her hand. 'No sense in bleeding.' She thought. 'yet.'

Trina got to the center a little early. She was there to see if Stan still let the guys in early to play around with the safer training equipment. She'd found out that the guys liked to take turns beating in the old heavy bag. It was both a chance to practice what they'd learned, and a contest to see who hit the hardest. The police allowed it, since no one was hurting anything more than their hands while hitting the bag. Trina had wanted to supervise it for a while. It was sweaty guys acting macho, just what Trina's ego needed after the last guy who stood her up. 'What's wrong with those guys?' she thought.

She headed through the door that led into the staff area, looking for Stan. She found him in his office, going over his notes. It was where she'd expect to find him, except he'd need to head over to the room soon to set up. He never seemed to have enough time for everything. There were always a lot of notes. He might have twenty people in a class, but that was out of almost eighty students. Some showed up religiously, while others might not show up for weeks. Stan liked to be ready to work with whomever was there.

"Hi Stan. I thought I'd drop by and help set the room." Trina said.

"No need. Jade's here." He said, then glanced at the clock in the office. "She's probably done by now. Why don't you go let the guys in." Stan handed her the keys.

"You ready for tonight?" Trina asked.

"Yea, just a little nervous. Jade can be unpredictable." He smiled. Trina was struck by the warmth of that smile. Jade's history with the dojo couldn't be all bad if Stan had such warm feelings for her. "Let the officer on duty know your going to be in there. I don't want to put anyone at risk."

"I think Jade an I can take care of our...You meant them, didn't you?" Trina was uncomfortable. Most of the guys would respect a woman's right to choose who they were with. However, there was always a danger of something happening when a girl is alone with a group of teenage boys trying to act macho as hell. There was always the possibility that this group might not be so controlled, or they might have their machismo insulted. No guy liked to lose face, especially in front of his buddies. While Jade probably could take any one of them apart, half a dozen was a threat. Even one guy was, if they got lucky. Guys tend to be physically stronger. Worse, if one of the guys lets their attitude run their actions, or mouth, it could get bad. Trina knew the style, and it's self defense training taught the practitioners how to disable someone quickly. And Jade was close to mastering that part of the style. Jade might seriously hurt any one guy if she felt pressed, or even half a dozen or more. Trina was worried that things could get bad quickly.

After a quick stop at the office of the officer on duty, she headed towards class, planning on changing on route. That was when she saw Andy, one of the students. She couldn't help the smile that crept across her face. Andy was trying to get out of the lifestyle, but was hampered by his position in his gang. A charismatic young man of eighteen, he had some small rank in his group. That made it so much harder to give up his spot in the gang. However, Andy was also one of the better behaved students, and his presence would keep the others in line. Trina liked him. She smiled again as Andy walked up to her.

"Trina, my god it's so good to see you. Tell me you'll run away with me." He smiled. He was always flirting, but she knew he never meant anything by it. In his own strange way, he was better than Beck. Not as good looking, he was direct when he needed to be, and his hamming up the lines left no doubt in anyone's mind the difference between his flirting, and when he was really interested in a girl. Trina's problem with him was he was interested in her. Despite the joking manner, he wanted to date her. Trina just didn't feel that way about him, and so she kept the flirting superficial. Still, he almost always made her smile, if for no other reason he had a way of making her feel special. Trina guessed he could make any girl feel special. He was just that kind of flirt.

"Andy, please, you know my father won't let me run away with anyone below green belt." She chirped back. He looked confused, but only for a moment. "I'm a brown belt. I'll be helping Stan tonight..." She smiled. She'd been walking to the girls locker room. Trina's intent was to get changed quickly and let the guys in to the classroom.

It took her less than five minutes to get changed, and Andy took that time to get in his uniform. Not all the students had training uniforms, but the league tried to help them get appropriate dress. Trina smiled at him as she led the way to the class. The door was blocked by a mass of humanity. Beyond the door, something was happening, with only the muffled sounds of blows against a giving surface alerting them as too what. The guys were trying to peek through the small window to see what was going on in the room.

Trina again wondered why there were so few girls interested in the self defense classes, but it was probably the same reasons she was worried about the wrong crew showing up. At least they kept the center neutral. No one wore colors in the community center. Trina motioned them aside, opened the door and walked in, guys following her in. Andy was the first to see what they were trying to get a better look at. It was Jade.

Jade was practicing on the heavy bag, only that didn't describe what the boys were seeing. Jade wasn't just throwing blows at the bag, those blows were doing things to the heavy bag that none of the guys had ever seen done. They probably never would have guessed that the bag could bend if hit hard enough, just rock back and forth from force of their blows. Jade would strike it, usually with a hard kick, and the bag would fold over, almost completely. Each blow shook the bag, and Trina was starting to worry that the bag would burst from the impact of Jade's blows. All too quickly, Jade stopped. She turned, dropping into a defensive stance while looking to see who'd interrupted her, and noticed Trina and the guys, staring.

"I thought we had.." Jade looked at the clock. "Twenty minutes before class. I didn't think you let them in for another ten."

"I'm not sure, but I think we usually let them in this early to help set up. You know, roll out the mats, hang the heavy bag..." Trina stopped. Despite only weighing about a hundred and twenty pounds, for one person to hang the bag required holding it with one arm while using the other to fasten the hook. Trina was in good shape, but usually they let a couple of the boys hang it. Trina knew, or rather hoped Jade wasn't THAT strong, or maybe Beck was. Either way, she'd hung the bag. 'Maybe she knows some Shaolin secret that let her move the weight.'

"It's okay, I got it. So what do they do once they've set up? Stretch? Maybe we should lead them in some basic stretching?" Jade asked.

"Stan does that. We let them play with the heavy bag. It's a contest to see who can hit it the hardest." Trina said.

"Yea, but today, maybe, we should check the place over. It's not like we think you'd make a mistake, but Stan likes things a certain way. So why don't we do that." Andy said. Several boys seemed to agree. Most of the boys seemed to agree. Jade was mildly offended, but it was best not to step on Stan's toes before she took over.

Jade's inner monologue, however, had already figured out what was wrong. 'Stupid stupid stupid! Trina told me not to bruise their male egos. Now how will I earn their respect.'


	11. Chapter 11

Stan started with a little tradition, having them bow to the school, the Sensei, etc. He needed to get things moving, keep everyone interested, so he had to do thing in a certain order. It was important for the kids. The discipline was more than how to fight, it would help them resist the temptations of the gang lifestyle and stay focused on having a productive life.

Stan ran his class through a series of quick stretches to both loosen them up and help warm up the muscles. He had not yet introduced Jade, wanting to avoid repeating himself to the inevitable stragglers. He watched Jade and Trina, doing the warmups as vigorously as they could. He knew they'd take every exercise seriously, unlike some of his students. A couple of the guys were already resting. It was okay, they needed to build their endurance.

After the warmups, Stan took the time to introduce the new members to the instruction team. "Guys, I'd like you to keep jogging in place while I make a little announcement. As some of you know, I'm still an active competitor in the CFC. I've been given another shot at a championship belt in my weight class, and I'm taking it." The guys shouted their approval. "However, if I'm gonna bring home the gold, I'm gonna need to train. I've got possible the best trainer I can get, but the training schedule means I won't be able to teach you guys until after the fight, at the earliest." He motioned for the girls to come up. "This is my replacement, at least for the next few months."

Stan gestured to Jade. "This is Jade West. She fought professionally as Mandy Walker. You remember her record? Won her first five fights, lost to Shelby Marx. She knows her stuff." He then gestured towards Trina. "I think most of you know Trina, Officer Vega's daughter. She helps out here a lot, and since she's a brown belt, she's going to help run the classes while I'm out."

The guys stopped jogging in place. For that second, the girls were being scrutinized. Then the guys seemed to be okay with it. Andy seemed a bit uneasy, but was willing to go along with the flow. Stan made a mental note to talk with him during the break.

After a few more exercises, Stan broke the class into three groups. The newest students worked with him. He was showing them the basics, the beginning stances and moves. Group two was given to Trina. They were the intermediate students. Jade took the small core of dedicated students who'd achieved the highest belt ranking in the class. She was showing them some new stuff. Trina and Stan both watched her out of the corners of their eyes.

Jade held back, wanting to be good at this. She saw so many flaws with their style, but she refrained from jumping on any of them. Instead, she tried subtly correcting the flaws while showing them the next set of moves they'd be learning. It almost worked.

Trina gave her guys an exercise to keep them busy for a second to go talk to Jade. Once she had the goth's attention, she whispered to her "Slow down."

"What?" Jade asked.

"Slow down. God, do you have a clue how fast you are?" Trina asked.

"WHAT?" Jade's voice was sounding dangerous, and the guys prepared to defend Trina, whom they liked, from the new black belt if necessary.

"You reflexes, it's too fast for the guys to keep up." Trina told her.

That's when it started to make sense. Trina could keep up, but doing so had overexerted her. These guys didn't have a prayer of following the nuances of her moves. She'd been going slow, but apparently it was still too fast. Jade slowed down, both her demonstration and the exercise. It was painfully slow. Jade could feel her muscles atrophying from the lack of exertion. Jade's response was to add isometric resistance to her movements, giving her a much heavier workout. That slowed her down, stopping her from unconsciously speeding up through the movements. The guys seemed to appreciate it, and were able to follow more easily. Jade also made a not not to be pissed at how slowly they were doing the moves. They just didn't have her speed yet.

Trina was happy Jade took her advice, but reminded herself to word things more carefully in the future. No sense in being the one who dies so the audience knows how the monster works. Better to learn a little diplomacy and help everyone.

'Form' It hit Trina, almost out of the blue. 'Form is one of her strong points.' Trina realized that everyone's imperfections screamed at Jade because she couldn't avoid seeing them. She somehow understood the function and adaptation of the movements. That was one of the reasons Jade was so good at transferring energy with her blows. No wasted movement. And that's what she was going to help Trina with. Of course, Jade was hitting harder than should have been physically possible, but that was another shaolin technique she'd learn from the actress as time went on..

For Jade, the rest of the first half went better. They still weren't doing anything right, but they were starting to pick up the patterns of the moves. Jade knew she had to correct them, or they'd be doing it wrong. So she worked slowly, often going hands on to move a limb or otherwise help them feel the difference in what they were doing. She used her writers mind to come up with as many ways of explaining what they were doing as possible, and chose the best sounding one to walk them through the moves. They were improving, but this chiz always takes time. Jade was impatient.

Jade used the break to talk with Stan, getting pointers about her mistakes as well as finding out what she did well. "I noticed you're not yelling at the students as much as you used to. That's a plus." Stan was telling her. He really wanted to talk to Andy. The boys would listen to him, and having him on board would make the transition go so much more smoothly.

Trina, however, was drawn to a conversation in the back of the room. One of the boys looked like he was showing the others where his hands would go if he was slow dancing. Trina walked over to catch what she could of that conversation. "...However long she would have to hold it before she got it hung."

"Doesn't matter. That position has no leverage." Andy said. "If she was forced to adjust it, she'd have to use more muscle. No way around it, that girls strong."

"Her boyfriend's stronger. I've seen him hold her back with one hand." Trina said.

"So you know her. What can you tell us?" Andy asked.

"She knows her chiz. Her brother taught her, and he's the guy Stan's going to train with. However, she needs to work on her people skills." Trina said. "So why didn't you guys hit the punching bag before class. It's a good workout." 'And I didn't get my beefcake viewing.' She thought.

"What guy was going to follow her?" Andy told Trina, pointing towards Jade. "It's one thing to know you could kick our asses, it's another to feel week compared to what? She's one hundred and thirty pounds at most? None of the guys wanted to go after she'd kicked the chiz out of the bag."

"Okay, I'll talk to her. Anything else?" Trina asked.

"I'll let you know after class. Maybe we could go somewhere and get some coffee?" Andy said.

"Can't. School night. You can tell me while we put the stuff away." Trina said.

Stan talked with Andy, and got the same thing Trina did. They respected Jade, but she couldn't keep showing them how strong, or tough, or whatever she was. They needed to feel like they were tough. Jade scared them. Stan tried to tell him she scared everyone. It wasn't an improvement.

The second part of class went much better then the first. It was mostly sparring, and at their level, the guys were doing slow controlled sparring. The center had wanted padded outfits so the guys could spar at full speed without getting injured, but there was no money for it. Instead, the beginners did 'called movements' while the more advanced students did slow sparring.

Despite her earlier problems, Jade seemed to handle the sparring far better. She'd often step in, frequently asking the guy she was now sparring with to throw a full speed punch or kick. She would effortlessly stop the attack, and then correct them in what they were doing wrong. Jade drifted around the class, leaving Trina to oversee sparring. Stan just watched. Most of the guys were Okay with Jade's approach. A black belt could avoid attacks, and felt safe to use full speed against her. As long as she didn't insult their manhood again, they were happy with her hands on approach.

Jade's actions spoke volumes about her lack of fear for the guys. Both Trina and Stan had convinced her that she needed to use some diplomacy, keep the guys coming back. Thanks to the new mindset, most of her comments began with "Good, but not great. Lets tweak it just a bit."

By the time Jade ran the cool down exercises and stretching, she seemed to be getting the hang of the class. Trina only had to remind the guys a couple of times that Jade was a "cyborg who wouldn't get tired" so they didn't need to keep up. For her part, Jade didn't let the comparison bother her. She was just happy to be learning how to teach.


	12. Chapter 12

After class, Trina and Andy talked while helping put everything away. Stan, after his talk with Andy, had pulled Jade aside. It was time to talk to her about everything, and hopefully prepare her to run the class on her own.

"Jade, I liked how you were towards the end. I know you're used to yelling to get what you want. Thing is, these guys won't respond to that kind of feedback. Gentle, let them know what they're doing wrong, but maybe start telling them what they're doing right? It makes it easier for them to hear." Stan looked to see if she understood him. Jade just nodded and waited for him to continue.

"Now I was talking to a couple of the guys and they were thinking that while it was great how you set the room and all, maybe in the future you could just supervise and let them do it. It give them more of a feeling of being a part of the class. We charge so little, it would also be their buy in to what we're teaching. You know, discipline, control, etc." Jade smirked.

"What'd I do wrong?" she asked. The problem with diplomacy was some people liked to be told straight on. Jade wasn't one of those people, but only because she hated not getting what she felt she'd earned. Given a choice, she'd rather be told bluntly in a way that didn't insult her than given a bunch of double talk. Right now, she just needed to know what she had to change.

"The heavy bag. Jade, I know Adam taught you how to move weight, and you probably had no trouble hanging the bag. But that's half of what the guys were talking about during break. So do your warmups or whatever someplace else, and don't hit or hang the bag. It's hard on their egos." Stan said.

"Okay, let them set up and tear down. Got it. Anything else?" Jade asked, and Stan soon found himself being pulled into critiquing every little flaw in Jade's teaching. Jade would be hurt by some things, and surprised by others, but the girl was determined to know her every mistake. It was to the point where Stan had to back up and think about what he was saying. Jade seemed to like to be hurt. Later, he'd blame her father.

Meanwhile Trina was talking to Andy. "So I was thinking, my cousin is working at this new place, authentic Mexican food. Maybe we could drop by some time while she's working there, and with her employee discount, have ourselves a nice meal." He said.

"Adam, you said you had stuff to tell me about how class went. So shoot." Trina liked the attention, but wasn't getting anywhere in the conversation.

"Damn Trina, you're a hard woman to love. Okay, Girls scary. I mean nothing to lose, kill her first because she don't care and will take you with her scary. It's more than she's strong, or fast, or tough. She has a part that would rather die than fail. Half the guys saw it. It's not that we don't respect it. Just I'm worried that if she loses it, we could have a lot of injured guys." Andy wasn't this serious, ever.

"Okay, how do we deal with that? I mean, from what I've heard, she's trying to do this so she can get back what she lost facing Shelby Marx." Trina said.

"What'd she lose facing that Shelby chick. By the way, that girls the opposite of Jade. She can handle herself, but chicks not looking to die anytime soon." and asked.

"Not our business. Now answer the question. How do we deal with her death wish?" Trina said. This was good information, but was getting frustrating.

"Give her another reason to live, to do this. Something, someone worth coming back for. Let her know she can get back whatever she lost without killing herself." Andy sat down. It felt like he was speaking from some deep, painful experiences. Many of the guys here had lost someone to the gang wars. "Also, she needs to change her attitude. More kung fu movie, less old style theater. You know, how in old style theater everyone pitches in, builds sets, and so on. Jade needs to be like those Kung Fu masters, all in control and chiz. That's why I was telling Stan that Jade needs to be a boss. Bosses have people to do the grunt work, so they can considerate on doing what makes the money so they can be signing the checks. In here, Jade needs to be the boss."

"So that's why you wanted to do the tear down." Trina said. "Wait, where did you hear about old style theater?"

"Did a report on it for my English class. Impressed? I could teach you all kinds of chiz about that stuff. Why don't we go someplace, maybe get something to eat.." Andy was back to flirting.

"Sorry, but I need to set Jade up with someone. Thanks for your help." Trina said.

Shortly after they were done, and Jade was on her way out to the staff parking lot, Trina caught up with her. "Tomorrow, after school, we need to talk. I think I know how to make this go easier for everybody. Be at my place by four."

"Whatever." Jade said. She was still processing what Stan had told her. They'd have one more class before Stan was off with her brother, and Jade needed that class to be great. Stan would tall Adam she was doing better, and maybe Adam would be interested in talking to her again. Jade would talk to Trina, just to find out what the brown belt had to offer.

Trina got home, and immediately looked for Tori. Her sister was sitting on the couch, watching 'celebrities under water'. Trina didn't see the attraction of that show. They put the celebrities in wetsuits to avoid hypothermia, so she didn't even get any beefcake. Still, Tor watched with rapt attention.

Trina looked to see if their parents were home, and to no ones surprise, they were out. Next, she made sure none of the creeps or stalkers who seemed to like to see what Tori was up to were about. Again, she found no one. Now it was time to see just how far she could take her plan.

"Tori, do you have a minute." Trina was trying to be subtle, knowing it would put Tori into a defensive mode. Trina would do better if Tori thought she wanted something.

"Okay?" Tori looked worried. It was time to strike.

"What's your opinion on Jade?" Trina was sure the first response would be denial, or redirection. It was what everyone would do.

"You want to know if I'm interested?" This wasn't what Trina expected. The older girl just nodded and hoped for something she could use. "I've thought about it for the last few days, and I regret to inform you that I think I could be with her." Tori said while looking at the TV.

"Regret?" Trina asked. 'I don't get her. If she's afraid to be with her, I'd have expected more resistance.'

"Yea, I'm interested, and it's ruining my life. I stared at her today, having very unclean thoughts." Tori said. "It's like, knowing she could want me allows me to be open and honest about my feelings."

"And those are?" Trina asked. "No, let me guess. It's like you have a friend who you're good friends with, so you don't allow yourself to be attracted to them. Then one day, they let you know they're interested, and suddenly everything you used to unconsciously ignore is right there. Am I close."

"NO, I was very aware of wanting to kiss her, from when Sikowitz forced us to go on that stupid date forward. But over the same time, I've had naughty thoughts about Beck and his friend Moose." Tori told Trina.

"Okay then, you're going to love this. I need you to date Jade." Trina smiled. 'Best to ignore the coming confusion and focus on what needs doing now.' she thought.

"What? Why?" Tori asked.

"I thought you'd be on board for this. You date Jade, and she's easier on out students. She has something to lose, so she behaves. Who knows, maybe you two will work out. If not, it'll help you with your not dating problem. What do you say?" Trina was pushing for an answer before Tori remembered she could say no.

"I don't know. Jade wasn't nice to Beck, even when they were dating." Tori said.

"You think she'll be nicer to you if you don't date?" Trina asked. "Look at it this way, you get to kiss her."

"I don't know..." Tori wavered. Those lips must be a major turn on if that's all it takes.

"I'm sure Jade will be a little easier for you to handle if you date her. Just give her a try, you never know how good it could be until you try." Trina pushed her advantage.

"Okay, Okay, I'll do it. You want me to ask her out?" Tori said.

"Yep, but lets choose your moment, Okay? Then, I'll give you our training schedule. You can date her around that." Trina smiled. Now, once Jade was convinced to date Tori, she'd have them both where she needed them.

"Wait!" Tori said as Trina was starting to formulate her plans.

"What?!" Trina whined. She didn't need Tori having second thoughts now.

"If I do this, and Jade is smitten, I get to keep her, right?" Tori looked at her sister, giving the brown belt her serious eyes.

"She's not a puppy." Trina tried to play it off. "Look, if you two work out, I'll support you. Emotionally, that is. Financially, you need to sign on with Neutronium and make some cash so you can support me." She gave Tori her best silly smile.

"That's all I ask." Tori said, letting a smile cross her face as she thought about how this could be fun.


End file.
